To be Anwhere but Home
by xxdownfallxx
Summary: It used to be that friends would never screw you over to get your boyfriend, kill you so they could win a race, and the one you love used to be the one you could trust. Okay maybe not but you used to be able to pee without someone breaking down the door.
1. Normal Would Be My Heaven

To be Anywhere but Home 

Chapter One:

Normal Would Be My Heaven

Tired drops of rain beat down onto the roof of Toretto's Market and Café. Saturdays were the slowest in the week, in turn providing plenty of time to catch up on the little things. Mia boosted herself up onto the counter and pulled a bottle of deep purple nail polish from her pocket. Normally she wouldn't take the chance of anyone catching her with her guard down, but the weather had really gotten to her. It was changing everyone; it never rained that much in Los Angeles, _especially_ in the heat of summer.

"_Debbie just hit the wall; she never had it all; one Prozac a" _The alarm clock was silenced with one powerful blow to it's head. Waking up was hard enough, but waking up to a once loved punk rock band gone crap pop was an entirely different thing in itself. Lily tried to clear her head as she swung her legs over the side of the bed, and stood a few seconds later.

Still half asleep she walked the short distance to the bathroom and caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror above the sink. She looked horrible, beyond that if it was possible. The poor girl hadn't slept a whole night through in days. Her dark brown hair was a mess, shorter parts frizzing out from the messy bun, hugging the back of her neck. There hadn't been time to take care of her skin and it was bearing the scars well. Tiny red soldiers stood their ground on her chin, forehead, and on the sides of her nose.

Discouraged by seeing the problems Lily grabbed at the left side of the mirror, and started the search through it's cabinet, seconds later she emerged with a tiny bottle of Aspirin. Placing it on the side of the sink Lily grabbed a bathroom cup and filled it with water, and then with both treasures in hand she walked out of yet another room and into the one next to it.

To worn to speak she placed them on the night table next to her mother's bed, shook her shoulder slightly to wake her. Lily gestured to what she'd brought in like Vanna White, gave her mother a fed up look, and left the room. You know how screwed up the order of things is when 15 year old Lily stays up all night worrying about 32 years old Hannah, her mother.

It was a year after their last heist and after each person went through their own private sections of hell, the team seemed to be together again. And they were, materially, but inside they were all somewhere else. Some where they were before the heist trying too forget, other's hiding out in the future, refusing to acknowledge what had happened.

Jesse dealt with what had happened, or at least gave the appearance that he did. And almost the second his shoulder was healed he was back on the computer, but with new tasks. For weeks he was in the basement, trying to clear Dom's record so that he could come back. There wasn't really a team without Dom and everyone knew that they wouldn't last much longer without him. Since he had disappeared, neither them nor the police had gotten any clues as to where he might be, so the heat had died down some.

A changing Jesse cleared Dom's record, as best he could, some things would have to remain because no one would by him not doing anything.

There had been money left, from previous heists they had done, but the team used this to pay off certain law enforcement that was easily swayed to look the other way. And finally, a year since he had fled, "the king of the streets" was back and things could be like they used to be. But sooner later they would have to ask themselves, did they want them to be.

"Mom get out of bed! You're gunna be late for work again!" Lily screamed from her room as she rummaged through clothes at the bottom of her closet, searching for a clean pair of jeans. "We can't afford for you to get fired from this job mom." Lily found what she was looking for and pulled them on over a blue pair of girl's boxers. She zipped up her fly as she was walking into her mother's room. Hannah was still in her bed, engulfed in a sea of blankets despite the warm weather.

"I'll call in sick for you at lunch but, this is the last time." Her mother just looked too helpless to be angry with. "I love you mom, okay? I have to go now." She leaned down, moved the blanked and kissed her on the head.

Lily held back tears and made her way into the living room, grabbed her backpack, and walked into the morning heat of July. Leaving her mother to fend for herself, knowing full well that she couldn't.

Finished with her fingernails Mia moved onto her tiny feet. She moved them up so they were on the counter and began to work from left to right. With the pounding of the rain she couldn't really hear anything or anyone.

"Mia I love you to death girl but that's just sick."

"What's si? Come on, we eat on that counter Mia." She smiled and jumped off.

"Yeah, yeah. I was bored okay?" She started grabbing plates from under the sink, and then other things that would be used in making their lunch.

"Why don't you just go back to school, that used to take up like…all of your time?" Letty climbed onto a stool near the sink.

"Are you trying to get rid of me?" Mia smiled and handed her, her lunch before moving onto Jesse's.

"You know what I mean girl."

"I don't know, I have 2 years left, and since…everything, I haven't been able to catch up. I failed last years classes and I'd have to take so much so many of them over, and I don't know. It just doesn't seem worth it. I wouldn't have time for much of anything." Mia handed Jesse his lunch. "Where's everyone else?"

"Working." She sensed her old friends getting uncomfortable and after what happened she didn't want to push her.

"Does Dominic know you're here."

"He will…eventually." Mia gave them that motherly look, like they'd done something wrong and now they'd have to pay for it.

"Come on, we were starving and"

"I'm not a part of this." Jesse went to speak again but she cut him off. "You made your own lunch, I was taking inventory the whole time." Mia grabbed the magazine Jesse had brought in with him. Quickly she glanced at the cover. 'Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. 'Figures.'

"I'll be back later."

Before they could protest she was out of the store with the magazine above her head as her only means of protection. And then before she got into her car Mia tossed it in a nearby trashcan. "Right where it belongs."

"…Really if you take the square root of four hundred and thirty two and divide it by one thousand two hundred and ninety six then you'll the correct measurement. Further more by taking the loose sums and by using a slightly transposed Pythagorean theorem you just may be able to create an interchangeable quadrant on your next project…"

The girl sitting next to her in a mini jean skirt and expensive indigo halter, who conveniently happened to be her best friend Kira, passed Lily a note.

'if this gets any more boring i think i'll hang myself with his bow tie.' Lily smiled and grabbed a pen.

'i think he'd kill u b4 he let u get it off him.' The teacher glanced back at his students and lily paused, midway through passing the note, but he was to enthralled with his teachings to notice.

'so bitch, how's ur mom doin' Mr. Tesler had begun to hand out a stack of papers from his desk when he stumbled and they went flying everywhere. As he knelt down to pick them up no one made an effort to help him.

'didn't get home till after 3, she was at some party in Vesaga i think.'

'OMG! so was i, but i don't think i saw her there, she might have been the slut dancing topless on the bar with dollar bills sticking from her thong.' He had successfully picked up all the tests and as he was rising from the floor the most welcomed sound in the world came, the bell.

Kira threw the note on Lily's desk and was gone before most others, leaving her _friend_ to fend for herself. After gathering all of her belongings into a pile she opened it and barely finished before it was out of her hands, being inspected by the omniscient eye of Tesler.

"That's detention Ms. James, half of it for your use of the word _bitch _and half for passing a note during my class. If this is what you're doing all the time I can see why you're failing."

"With all do respect _bitch _is not a swear, it's a thing." Lily normally never spoke like that to people in _authority_, but he'd been on her case for as long as she could remember.

"See me after school today, and we'll discuss in full the perborate of this note."

"So we're going to discuss a salt of acid containing the monovalent, negative radical BO3 ? Really, I'm dieing to see how that relates to you're class, other than intensifying the fact that you disregard ill use of the English language. At least when it's coming from your mouth."

Lily was never the smart one in fact she was failing Math and History, barely passing Science and English, but out of them all she favored English the best. Since she was little she had always liked to write to write poetry, starting out about trees and her happy home, but quickly escalating to her mother's drinking, and father's death. And the fact the Mr. Tesler had chosen the word perborate was a gift, for it was on one of the few tests she hadn't failed.

"Mr. Toretto, I'm sorry but there is not enough in your account to go on further with this transfer."

"Check again, I just put five hundred in"

"Yes you did sir and it was used to pay past debts. Speaking of debt you still owe five thousand in back taxes. Sir, might I suggest claiming bankruptcy, or its showing your house is paid for, why not take out a second mortgage?"

"Thank you for you time." Dominic placed the phone down on the receiver trying to stay calm. He ran his hand over his head, stood, and walked out of the office.

"Where'd you put the vise-grip, we can't finish the Honda without it?"

"Vince, how the hell am I supposed to know? I've been in that fucking office all day." Dom pulled his work shirt off the ground, and pulled it on over his wife beater. "Did you at least finish the Mustang?"

"Dawg, we need to order that hydraulic jack to finish."

"That's why you didn't finish? So what the fuck have you been doing all day?" The vein in his head had started ticking as he walked over to a pile a _junk_ and pulled something off the top. "This what you're looking for?"

"Dude, we didn't"

"Where's Letty and Jesse?" Inside he already knew the answer.

"They went down to the store for lunch and" Dominic threw the wrench he had in his hand down and it chipped the cement of the floor, turning around he went into his office and slammed the door. Cursing under his breath.

"What's with him?" Vince asked as scratched his head with his good arm. The stress of everything was changing people, Dom especially.

Like she'd promised Lily went down to the office phone instead of going to lunch, for what was probably the hundredth time and got into the ever growing line. She couldn't help but listen to the conversations going on around her, but just as soon as she had focussed on them she tuned them out. There was enough drama in her life without adding the endless troubles in everyone else's.

Half an hour later she finally was able to pick up the worn phone, and dial the unfamiliar number of her mother's newest employer, ready to grovel.

_'Burger King, Wendy speaking.' Came a less than chipper voice on the other end of the phone. _

_'Hello Wendy,' she attempted to sound happy, 'this is Hannah James, I'm a waitress there and I would just like tell you that I won't be able to come to'_

_'Please hold.' Lily figured that the woman had dealt with deadbeats like "herself" on a regular basis. _

Absentmindedly she glanced behind her and was greeted with many none too pleasant looks. Quickly she turned back around as the woman spoke again.

_'Ms. James you just started working here two weeks ago and you have already been late two times, and have missed work,' the woman scrolled her finger down the list of names,' on three occasions.' Lily shook her head, Hannah had claimed to have only been late once to this job, and other than that arriving every other day. _

_'I understand but my…husband just died and I have to bury him.' She slapped her hand on her forehead not able to believe she'd said that. _

_'Regardless, if you're not at work in twenty minuets you will not work here anymore and fur'_

_'But' She started to plead._

_'You and I both know your husband didn't die. Come pick your last paycheck up Wednesday, no later or it won't be here.' _

_'No you don't understand'_

_'That's right I don't, and frankly I don't care.'_

Lily's ears were greeted with the hum of the ended phone conversation. Defeated she placed it down, only for the person behind her to pick it up again…a depressing cycle in its repetition.


	2. Just like a Man

A:N/ The extra ! after the end puntuation mark means new place and i'm sorry but they're not letting me put ne other kind of divided. :(

To be Anywhere but Here 

Chapter Two:

Just Like a Man

_-One Week Later-_

"Mom, I'm home from school," Lily shouted as she entered the house, "good to be back." Was mumbled with all joy gone. Her mother did have days, good days, where she would come home from school and there would be everything short of a fresh baked batch of cookies on the table. As she threw her backpack on the living room couch, just from the atmosphere of her home, she could tell that it wasn't one of those days.!

After months of constantly moving around from place to place Brain finally realized that what he was looking for was back in L.A. In the short time he had lived there he had felt more at home then back when he was living in his own home, with his dad. The rush that racing gave him was incredible, but the way that they were set up back there, that was beautiful. And yet it couldn't compare to the real reason he wanted back into their world. That was much simpler. The girl with an all knowing smile and wonderful long black hair.!

After months of what seemed like endless trials the man had finally come to a life-altering conclusion. For months he had watched the team come apart and even with Dom coming back things still weren't the same, between any of them. A maximum of two weeks had passed since the accident when a Tran had approached him. His first instinct was to kill the bastard but he felt for him considering his cousin was a fatal casualty of their pure and simple stupidity.

The man, not much older than himself had begun his negotiations lightly, planting bitter thoughts few and far between, but their conversations quickly grew to the subject of teams betrayals and it's dim fate. Johnny knew that the easiest way to take down Toretto was toslowly dismantle his team, one by one.

He wouldn't just kill them all quickly with a gun or a bomb, he wanted it to cause as much pain for them all as possible, and the quickest way to that kind of pain. Well, lets just say that the heart was the only thing capable of handling what he has in store for them, and even though the heart is that strong, it's the easiest thing to break.!

"Girl do not tell me you fell asleep in this store. This," she gestured to the few isles of junk food, "is all you've been doing."

"That can't be healthy." Leon said as he grabbed a bag of Corn Chips off the shelf and went to open them.

"Na a." Mia ran over to him and grabbed it from his hands. "This," she gestured to the bag," is why I'm here all the time. You guys have to start paying for the stuff you eat around here. I mean lunch is fine but if eat everything we have then there is nothing for the _paying _customers." Not meaning for it to happen, a snappy tone had entered her voice. "Sorry guys, I've just been getting really frustrated lately cause I haven't been able to get ahold of most of my professors and…forget it."

"Nah, go on."

"Most of them say the only way that I can graduate with my class is to actually go to college. That means no more mailing in the work." That's the way she had wanted things from the beginning but after their dad died Dominic had decided she needed to stay home and tend to the store and other womanly things.

"So why don't you?" Letty took the bag from her hands and placed it back on the shelf.

"Well he's about 5'7, 240 pounds, shaved head. He just happens to be the man who sleeps in your bed."

"Mia if it's what you want" Letty began before Jesse interrupted.

"Forget the risk and take the fall, if it's what you want, it's worth it all." They all just starred at him in a silent amazement for a few seconds not really sure if those words had come out of his mouth. "What," he watched them watch him, "I read a couple Hallmark Cards, that's all."!

After searching for her mother throughout the whole house, which wasn't that much. Lily was starting to get a sick queasy feeling in her stomach. Even when her mother went out to bars or parties she'd leave at night, not in the middle of the afternoon bearing two day hangover, if that was even possible.

Dropping on the couch she felt coldly defeated and closed her tired eyes, welcoming an uninterrupted slumber yet minuets later there was an urgent knock at the door.

The man on the other side of the door was bulky, and in his mid forties. Hours before police had received a call from a concerned neighbor who hadn't seen Hannah James in weeks. Detective Hanson had taken his time getting to the house earlier that afternoon expecting to find a normal suburban woman, chipper and welcoming. Or possibly to find that she had already departed for work.

After numerous rings of the doorbell and knocks at the door Hannah finally made the effort to rise from her blanketed chamber to send the unwanted visitor away. It could only be one of three people, her daughter, supplier, or friends in blue.

Lily never left home without her key knowing full well that her mother wouldn't wake up most of the time anyway if she were even home, so Lily came off the list. Before she could run though the bits of thoughts she could comprehend for the other two Hannah was at the door and quickly tried to perk herself up.

Hanson could hear what sounded like drunken footsteps making their way to the door. The person seemed to stumble with every move they took and knock down many things in the process. He wasn't a very tall man but if he stood on his tiptoes he could see into the window on the top of the door just barely. And so he got his first glimpse of the woman that would severely disrupt his life.!

Dominic walked into the store and watched as all eyes met his. He could tell they had been talking about him because of the awkward silence in the room.

"What going on in here?" He asked, still standing in the doorway.

"Nothing," Letty lied and went over to him, "Jesse just actually said something smart for once." After speaking she put her hand up too draw his face down for a kiss but he moved away. "Christ Dom, what's your problem now?"

"Letty it's raining in the middle of June and it's like a million fucking degrees outside so forgive me for not wanting you all over me." Letty looked hurt but Dom didn't pay attention and instead just walked into the back room and sat down at the table. Her tongue had moved so that the tip was on her top lip and she was attempting to keep herself from tears. She didn't want to act like Dom's needy bitch but there were things that she needed, and above everything other physical thing that was love, and lately, there hadn't been much.!

The plane ride had been bearable but it had also given him plenty of time to wonder about Mia and the whole team. He didn't expect them to welcome him back with open arms but he wasn't sure if he could handle her at least, completely writing him off. But if she would, she already had.

Brian had packed like a man, only two bags. One that he had carried on the plane and another had braved the ever so dangerous baggage claim, and after thirty minuets of talking to arguing with a Spanish speaking worker, even thought he didn't speak Spanish, it didn't look like he would be getting the other bag back any time soon. Defeated his mind just started rolling over where he was gunna sleep that night. _Just like a man._!

**I am looking for a few beta readers**. I need people who won't be afraid to tell me when I've written bs, even if it's like a whole chapter of it. Out of character dialogue or actions, things that have been tiredly played out. And most importantly if I tread into dangerous Mary Sue territory. So if you're interested email me. Plus of being a beta reader…you get to read chapters before other people. So I guess moving onto my much loved reviewers:

**Jet-Indigo- **Thanks to you for reviewing and since you're my first reviewer ever, I am completely grateful to you. Even with just writing the first chapter I had to catch myself so many times when I found myself making Lily seem perfect. Almost every fic I've read has this perfect girl, with wonderfully shiny hair that everyone envies, clear silky skin, and well you get my point, perfect everything.

As far as one of the team falling for her well she's 15 years old and I have nothing planned like that in the future though maybe when she's older, at least 17 or something but I haven't thought that far ahead. Anyway, thanks for the review and the advice. -Inna-

**Takerlover21-** "Interesting" in a good way I hope. Kudos to you for taking the time to review. (I hate the word kudos and yet I just used and it sounded really stupid, but it rhymed. That's something right?) -Inna-

**...-** Sorry about the difficulty reading the chapter and I know what a pain in the…butt it can be cause it gets confusing and plus I have some big paragraphs and they require eye squinting or text changing. Now that I have a few reviews and some people seem to want to read a little more, hopefully it'll be easier for me writing the second chapter. So thanks and I hope you keep reading. -Inna-

** -**Well I can't think of anything else in the least bit witty or ditzy which is odd because I'm like the queen of them sometimes so just thanks and I updated. :) -Inna-


	3. We Come Together to Fall Apart

Thanks 4 the reviews, sorry it took so long but I was working stuff out and I wrote this awhile ago and well I just thought if ne one is reading idk, I'm tired, I'll try 2 update again way sooner.

To Be Anywhere but Home

Chapter Three:

We Come Together, to Fall Apart

_"She sits in the corner, singing herself to sleep._

_Wrapped up in all of the promises,_

_that no one seems to keep…"_

-The Next Day-

It wasn't that Hannah didn't love her, it was that she loved her more than Lily would ever know. Yesterday's mess still fresh in her mind she walked from her room for what could be the last time of her life and closed the door behind her. There was no mother to rush to wake up and no empty beer bottles to bring to the side of the road for tomorrows trash pickup. Instead there was just her, a few suitcases, and a plane ticket that would bring her from the place she'd grown up in.

The man, who had been there yesterday, Detective Hanson had only scratched the surface when describing to Lily the things that her mother had been involved with, had been doing for years. Since the time she was a little girl and things had actually seemed normal.

He told her that her mother had come to the door looking a little more than high, and as soon as she had opened her mouth to tell him off he could smell the familiar scent of cheap achohal on her breath. The rest, he claimed, was boring and official but it ended with their house being searched. Lily could tell it hadn't been completely legal by the way he clamed up when she questioned him on that aspect.

Regardless of the rest of the story her mother wasn't there now, she was in Hampton County Correctional Facility, only miles from their house. The social worker she had been paired with had offered to take her to visit but she had declined. Lily was frightened of what she might do and say if she was presented to the woman who had single handedly broken their family apart piece by piece.

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There was a constant nagging feeling inside of Brian's head just to get off of his friends couch, throw open the door, and run to the Toretto's. He knew without a shadow of a doubt that he loved her more than he had even loved someone in his entire life, but after what he did, he couldn't see how she could even stand to look at him. Let alone let herself fall for him again, if her were her, he wouldn't. Brian tried to think like Mia, she wouldn't even let him into the driveway let alone their house.

He had compromised her sole protector. Put him a position where he put his mind out of the situation and took a chance on Brian in too many ways concerning the things dear to him.

For that night alone he had stayed over at an old friends house. They hadn't spoken in years but Brian had gotten him out of some deep shit a while back and Malakai owed him big time. It was three a.m. and there was nowhere that he could go even if wanted to leave his friends excuse for a couch. He'd given up on the cars, for now, considering how many he'd wasted running from the police.

A siren screamed as a lone car sped down the street right past the window he was looking out. Living in constant fear of the police picking him up almost wasn't worth the effort of hiding. Moving from state to state, city to city had taken a lot out of him. Physically and emotionally. You could tell that he had aged inside though it didn't show much in his appearance.

If anything he was a little scruffier then before, his clothes a little more worn, his world…for the time being didn't exist.

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Dominic was feeling the immense pressure that his words to Letty had bred. It had added to the unnatural uneasiness about their home. He had loved his father but the one thing he regretted him teaching him was that sensitivity ment weakness. In his head all he wanted to do was run to find Letty, take her in his arms, and apologize to her. A real apology with heartfelt words. Words that he had, but words that wouldn't escape his lips.

Since his time spent in Mexico he had had time to think their relationship over. He knew that he loved her, wanted her, and needed her always. But he wasn't sure if she needed him, if he knew Letty at all he knew that she was afraid of change. Her father had changed from a loving dad, into a drunken fool. Her mother had changed from a soft-spoken woman into a bitter wife. He had changed from a faithful, loving boyfriend into a lying, son of a bitch.

But he wanted to end it, all of it. Take away the pain that she'd felt for so long, from one bad situation to another it seemed. Yet thinking it in his head was all well and good but telling it to the only woman that he wanted to come home to at night, that seemed impossible.

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She opened her mouth to speak to Dom, he was right in front of her, wrapped up in paper work, but defeated the words wouldn't come out. So quietly she closed the office door and backtracked from the room. There was no need to tell him where she was going; he couldn't care less anyway unless she still had work to do.

The whole drive on the freeway she was doing above 90, driving like a crazy person, cutting off anyone who dared get in front of her. Letty was trying so hard not to cry, for everything that was messed up, and for the nothings that had stayed completely right. Before she left she'd convinced herself she wasn't coming back, but the second her car hit the state line, it wasn't her hands driving anymore, it was her heart.

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He remembered the day not like it was yesterday, but like it was happening to him, every moment of his life, and yet somehow, he had no idea who had done it but when he was just five years old, just a child, and he'd seen his mother murdered.

Mathew Tran seemed to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders with every step he took and yet somehow that was disguised with an ever-growing coldness that he could give off. The only way to describe him is like the character Aubrey in _Demon in My View_. People are drawn to him through his good looks and charm yet there is something that holds everyone but the brainless whores back.

Looking around him for the first time since he'd gotten off the plane Mat saw his aunt standing in the middle of three men that appeared to be her bodyguards. He smiled but for a different reason then she interpreted, he was laughing at the irony of the situation. For years his father and he had struggled to get by, working job after to job just to put food over the table and hundreds of miles away his aunt was so rich she could afford not one but three bodyguards? Somehow it didn't seem right.

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